Well, the really good news is this Rare-inspired platformer now has a release date and more great-looking screens to go with that trailer above. The sort of bad news is the Wii U version has been sent to the glue factory, but the silver lining is it’s headed to Nintendo Switch at some point. Screens you want, screens you get thanks to my handy YouTube channel you should probably subscribe to now that I’ve figured out how to use the darn thing. I don’t monetize, so fear not – you’ll get no spam or even a slice of stale bread to have that spam on.
Press release perusal? Jump down, watch for spikes.
So. I didn’t watch The Game Awards this year because these sorts of back-slapping shows are meaningless for the most part, but I did catch a few YouTube vids of cringe-worthy moments I won’t discuss here. That said, the best thing saw post-show on YouTube next to new Zelda footage was this bizarre update to Hideo Kojima’s new and still in development PS4 exclusive, Death Stranding. The first trailer was a total brain-masher that people spent too much time dissecting, so you know that second one above was even more disorienting.
If you didn’t catch it, the guy holding the odd baby looks a wee bit too much like director Guillermo del Toro and that’s definitely Mads Mikkelsen with the inky stuff on his face. I have no idea what this game is going to be about, but like a bunch of people in the same boat, I want it just to see how Kojima and his team can pull it all together into something somewhat cohesive yet still intentionally baffling. Okay, there’s really nothing “ugly” about this trailer at all – I just needed to get a catchy title and that popped into my head first.
Horror games are a dime a dozen these days (or less when on sale) and I think I’ve seen every jump scare-packed trailer out there at least three times. So yes, I am a very jaded guy when it comes to the usual broody music and tilted camera angles spelling out coming carnage in paint by numbers visual form. REDRUM! That said, Indiegala s.r.l (yep, the same folks with that great bundle site who also have the promising MMO from Brain in a Box called VOODOO in development and on Kickstarter) is poking at the genre with a sharp stick with Die Young.
As you can see in that trailer below, the build-up is cheery, the sights look lovely and things even kick off with a really a catchy tune… but the payoff at the end is quite the corker. Let me warn you now that the final shot is a bit disturbing (or definitely will be to some folks):
Ouch. I hope that’s not the heroine of the game, as it’s supposed to be a survival game about a gal who wakes up in a hole on an island and has to find her way off before the locals track her down. Deliverance meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or some other chase ‘n chop flick? This might work out well if it’s at least fair to the player and not some relentless gore festival with no escape. Consider it a challenge to stealth game fans, I guess. We shall see.
My, those sunflowers sure are pretty, aren’t they?
Got a PS4, PS3, or Vita handy? Good. Click on that banner above or below (or both in separate tabs), do some self-gifting and thank me later for saving you a trip to the mall (or maul, given the usual antics on this crazy shopping day).
I think you can use only this one-time use code: D9NGJ7NF3L for an extra 10% off on Flash Sale buys, but see if it works if you combine purchases. You’re welcome, of course.
I’d be lying if I said this series wasn’t fun to do, so I’m going to do something even more fun and continue delivering a busload of horror or horror related games on a weekly or bi-weekly basis based on my workload. This particular series will close for now on a few scary-ish notes starting with one of the best (and hardest) games I’ve played all year which just so happens to win the “Most Improved Via Patching” crown. Okay, I don’t have a crown for that. But you know what I’m talking about.
SLAIN: Back from Hell: Brutally savaged upon its initial release by critics and gamers (many of the latter who never played the game, but merely hopped on the flaming hate wagon because that what the Internet does to people who need to feel as if they’re part of a “thing”), SLAIN seemed destined to die on the vine before it got a fair shake. Thankfully, developer Wolfbrew Games (Andrew Gilmour) picked himself up, shook off the ashes and like Dr. Frankenstein after a few fresh pots of coffee, a ton of classic metal music and a few too many monster movies, set to reviving his baby and making it a better experience overall. Did he succeed? Take a look for yourself:
Yep. It’s not only back, it’s brilliant, visually rich and chock full of so many tweaks that it’s definitely worth buying even if you have to pay someone with better reflexes to finish it for you. The game isn’t easy at all, but it’s hard to stop playing thanks to the visuals dropping in something fantastic to look at in every stage. The old school stuff (knockback deaths, enemies spawning at the wrong time, many deathtraps, cheap bosses) may tick off casual gamers or those who never “got Gud” at classic 8 and 16-bit games something fierce. But for those who like it rough, Slain says “Welcome home, now go die!” and you’ll keep coming back for more. Oh, and it’s on PS4 and Xbox One, so you have no excuse not to play this if you own either console.
The fine and dandy run ‘n gun meets bullet hell arcade shooter Gunnihilation is easily making my “best of 2016” list and it’s not even 100% done yet. The completely fun, completely chaotic, completely “shut up and PLAY IT” Early Access game has gotten some excellent and FREE Halloween-themed content called Witches and Boomsticks that adds, well, witches and boomsticks (and more, oh my!) to the game.
The first major update for Gunnihilation called “Witches and Boomsticks”, is out on Steam for FREE and has more content that you can shake an angry skeleton at.
Included in this release;
– More levels (a whole new mission comprised of three full and a handful of new Survival levels)
– New enemies (including LASERBATS)
– Spooky overhaul of all the levels for Halloween
– A new weapon (why should the Green Goblin have all the fun?)
– Achievements
– Trading cards
– Balances and fixes
And as if that wasn’t enough, we’re not going to leave you like the classic skeleton at the disco (with no body to go with) and strip your spoopy content from you after release. All the content we’re putting into Witches and Boomsticks will stay in the game after Halloween is over, accessible from a menu in the game level hub.
Today’s jury duty craziness has me a bit worn out, but I say go grab this game and that free update, get a few friends to come over (you’ll need a controller for each) and go have a blast!
Well, a day left before jury duty (BOO! but civic duty is important, folks! That said, who the hell schedules jury duty on friggin’ Halloween?!) and me getting busy doing a ton of other stuff not site related, I’m moving a bunch of stuff into November once this court-ship pulls back into port and I’m a free man again. Anyway, let me wrap this horror game thing up with a bunch of randomness you’ll want to check out. Starting with a new game that’s a hilarious must of you like to laugh more than scream:
Slayaway Camp: Well, wow. Blue Wizard Digital just dropped one of the most fun and surprisingly funny puzzle games this year and yes, if you’re at all a horror fan, you either need to play it or haunt someone who has a Steam account until they buy it so you can watch them play. The game has you playing a number of different horror movie killers taking out teens in a series of increasingly tricky sliding puzzles. Complete an entire movie’s worth of scenes to unlock more in the game’s Video Store.
Just check the video below for the gory truth about how awesome this is:
The blocky graphic style makes those kills go down easy, the music is straight up fantastic, the selection of playable baddies will get genre fans grinning, and there are some pretty sweet bonuses to unlock. Oh, and you NEED to check out the options screen just for the different visual tweaks, some of which make zero sense and parody more graphically intensive titles with way too many options. Clearly, Blue Wizard’s love for 80’s slasher flicks is making a ton of people more than happy, so why not join the happy crowd, I say? Hey, if you don’t… Skullface himself may come a-knockin’ at your door…
Seriously twisted and interactive to boot, this icky video from talented Indonesian developer Digital Happiness wants to mess with your day in a big way. This VR-enabled teaser for DreadEye almost makes me want to try a VR horror game, but I don’t want to be found dead on the couch with those damn goggles strapped to my head. That would be somewhat expensive and embarrassing, right? Right.
Oh, by the way… DreadOut is on sale until November 1 for a mere $2.99. Get it, I say.
Okay, a bit late on this one, but I was busy chopping at my backlogs on assorted stuff and tackling a few fires in other spots. Anyway, here are a few more amusing horror-themed games from the vaults, although they’re not quite vintage having all arrived this year. One technically isn’t a “horror” game at all, but some of you will no doubt get a bit queasy if you think about it in a certain way. For example…
Beeftacular: Yuck. Retrific’s squishy, bloody little gem (currently available on Steam) made me stay away from meat for a week when I first played it thanks to… well, just look and see for yourself (IF YOU DARE):
Blech. Maybe it’s the thought of a chunk of raw beef cleansing a map of contaminated beef dipping into my subconsciousness combined with the not so wholesome meat industry pretending things are all fine and Grade A dandy when it’s not. But I couldn’t stomach this for more than an hour before I felt a bit off. Then again, the game’s manic pace and timed stages do get really hectic.
That said, yep, that level editor is mighty excellent, the music is great and if you’re a gamer with a meat fetish as well as a speed running maniac, you won’t need to ask “Where’s the Beef?!” at all. And nope, I never played Super Meat Boy until a few weeks ago – grinning meat is no turn on, either.
Um, hey… anyone wanna go out for a nice juicy burger? 😛
So, Xanadu Next and I… have a little history. My first and only encounter with it was via the infamous Nokia N-Gage version that, while a bit janky, was still playable and a bit of fun once you got used to it. When I found out a few years later that not only was it initially a PC game in Japan, but a much better game overall, I was hoping to heck someone would get to work on a localization.
Thank you, Xseed Games and Marvelous USA! This should be interesting, as the things I liked about the portable game are getting a big boot and yes, the truncated/changed story is now here as it should be. November 3 is the release date and $19.99 on Steam, gog.com or the Humble Store is a fair enough bargain for a game I found entertaining as a squashed-down Diablo -like ARPG experience, which interestingly enough, the N-Gage had a few of during its life cycle. Most were actually pretty good, but that’s the subject of a whole different post you should bug me about one of these days if you’re intrigued.
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 